Friday, September 23

Can a Swiss Emmentaler cheese be a country?

You have seen this map before. It is a disaster. A permanent refuge camp within a country. So as I understand, mister President M. Abbas from Palestine will today try to convince the United Nation assembly, that his state is actually a state. These must be desperate times, since he very well knows that the US will veto such a move to accept Palestine as the 194 State (or so) in the world community.
Why Emmentaler cheese? Well, it has holes all over the place, just like Palestine, holes and walls and guarded fences created by Israeli settlements. A nightmare, though the Swiss cheese still tastes good.
I have absolutely no clue what the solution or answer is, how the Arab population within Israel can become their own. It is though a fact, that in the near future people of Arab origin will be the majority in the state of Israel. Then what? What will Israel do then? 
Since I am alive and half-way awake, I hear the sermon of peace talks. This has been going on for 35 years now. Nothing came of it. Israel, together with her big bully the USA, insists and insists, Palestine is a wreck shooting cheap rockets, keeping fear and misery alive on both sides.
I do not believe it can be done. There will be neither peace, a Palestine State, or any kind of solution between the Arab world and Israel in my lifetime. 
This is not a prediction, this is as confirmed as if you were watching with patience a snail eat holes into the awesome lettuce in your garden. Inevitable. Somehow as inevitable as the Swiss Emmentaler Cheese holes.

Saturday, September 17

Brandenburg

Normally I am not inclined to do any kind of reviews. Today I break the habit. 
There is this work from J.S. Bach called "Brandenburgische Konzerte", a masterwork that drags on and on, pleasant, but what was he thinking... do we want to sit here all night?
So my wife comes along and visits me in Europe and hands me these CD's. I kind of had the attitude, heard this before  - done that. So i did not pay immediate attention. Tonight I did - and I was struck. 
The music was not only recorded in a professional and superb way, it rocked! I think Bach would have been proud of it.
The way they (Akademie für alte Musik) made it interesting, is to shift the the beat, the contrapunkt, just so slightly. It made the whole thing interesting, alive and jazzy. What also helped was that some of the more important wind instruments are being played on wooden gear. Gives an other timber.
If you ever fell asleep during the Brandenburg Concerto, listen to this recording, it will wake you up, make you alert. I guaranty.


http://store.harmoniamundi.com/brandenburgische-konzerte.html

Thursday, September 15

2,000,000,000

I find it kind of amusing, that a 31 year old lad gambled away two billion Dollars while employed as an investment banker for the Swiss bank UBS.
Think about it, that is a lot of money.
I was also thinking to have a cup of coffee this morning, but I did not have the change.
His losses could have been my wins for a cup of coffee for the rest of my life.

Friday, September 9